Ten things Americans waste money on

[Winchester]

I get a kick out of people sometimes. I'm not talking about here; I lurk on another board and the women there got into a huge free-for-all a couple weeks ago. One woman said she spends $200 - $300 a month on different cosmetics, hair supplies, etc. Another woman lambasted her so badly it wasn't even funny. "You should be ashamed.....That's just ridiculous!" and so on. Yet, in a different post, this same woman said that she thinks nothing of purchasing $300+ purses. And she didn't see a problem with it. Needless to say, that did not go over well. In other words, kind of a Pot meet Kettle thing.

It shouldn't matter what you spend your money on as long as you can afford to do so and your bills still get paid.

 

[Kat0121]

I can only take the blame for #1

#2- I used Groupon once to get a Sam's membership that ended up being less than free after the $20 gift card and using the coupons they gave me for free merchandise

#3- I get an appetizer when I get take out chinese but I get 2 meals out of what I order

#4- I rarely use ATM's and wen I do it's at my own bank or Publix (local supermarket chain) and they have free ATM's there for my bank

#5- Have never paid them

#6- Nope. I have Amazon Prime and between the amount of stuff I get from them and the streaming service, they lose money on me for shipping. 

#7- I don't have a baby but my DD most certainly did not wear designer clothes when she was small. 

#8- Nope- don't have one

#9- Don't have cable. I have Netflix and Amazon Prime streaming. That's good enough for me

#10 - Nope. I make coffee at home and at work myself. I do go to Dunkin Donuts on occasion but rarely more than once or twice a month

 

[Willowy]

Yeah, whatever people want to spend their money on, that's their business, even if I think it's stupid . But I get Dave Ramsey's point---he's a financial advisor and I'm sure lots of people go running crying to him after using their money stupidly, and I'm sure he's sick of it.

Hmm, as for the list---I don't pay credit card interest or ATM fees. I use my credit card for everything because of the rewards, but I pay it off every month. I don't pay ATM fees because I use my credit card for everything, I very rarely use cash at all. But I think that paying an ATM fee might be the smarter option, if your bank's ATM is so far away that it would cost you more in gas or time to go there. Gas isn't cheap, and time is money!

Deal sites---I don't, but my mom uses Groupon all the time, LOL. She has missed the deadline for a few of them, but the good thing is that for most Groupons, you always get your original dollar amount back. Like, if it's a "get $40 worth for $25" restaurant deal, you still get your $25 worth, even if you miss the deadline. I think the only one she's ever LOST was a restaurant that closed before she could use the deal. But more frequently, we end up running out to the place the day before the deal expires, which is kind of fun :tongue2:.We've tried a lot of restaurants that we wouldn't have tried otherwise, and some are pretty good. She also found a great deal on Keurig Vue machines, and bought one for everybody in the family. Of course, it turns out that the Vue machines were so cheap because Vue pods are very limited in variety and not available at most places :/. But I bought a k-cup adaptor for it on Amazon so it's all good now. Anyway, the point is---you can get good deals and it's kinda fun so why not? If you can afford it.

Gym memberships---LOL. Yeah, I think most people go for a couple weeks and then stop going. But some people really do use the gym every day and a gym membership is certainly a lot cheaper than buying all the equipment themselves. I think that's a matter of being really honest with yourself.

Appetizers---I LIKE APPETIZERS! And if I'm going out to eat at a real restaurant I want the full experience. So there! :lol3:

Overdraft fees---yeah, I agree; pure sloppiness. Just keep track of your balance, it's not that hard.

Fancy baby clothes---yeah, pretty pointless. They'll wear it maybe 3 times before they outgrow it, and will probably spit up on it and have a diaper blow-out in it. But some things are so cute!

Fast shipping---sometimes you need something fast. Most of the time you don't. I always pick the cheapest shipping.

Premium cable---it's true that most people only watch a few channels. But some of those channelss are only on premium cable :/. And we can't buy them separately. So that's annoying, but I don't know how to get around that. Personally, I don't have cable or internet right now. I'll probably just get internet if I'm not forced to get a bundle. You can find most shows online.

Fancy coffee---when my brother moved back to my paarents' house after living in Minneapolis for awhile, he said the worst part of not being in a city was "not going for coffee". It wasn't the coffee he wanted (there are lots of places to buy coffee in small towns), it was GOING for coffee. It's a social thing. So I don't begrudge anyone their going-for-coffee habit, although paying $4 for coffee kinds of kills me .

 

[blueyedgirl5946]

We don't do any of those things. I do by Keurig coffee pod. I get what is on sale that I have a coupon for. We only use it later in the day if only one of us wants coffee. So I think I can say that we don't waste money on any of those things that are talked about.

I do however like nice purses like Coach. I only have two that I purchased new though. :lol3:

 

[AbbysMom]

We don't do any of those things. I do by Keurig coffee pod. I get what is on sale that I have a coupon for. We only use it later in the day if only one of us wants coffee. So I think I can say that we don't waste money on any of those things that are talked about.

I do however like nice purses like Coach. I only have two that I purchased new though. :lol3:

That's one of my splurges as well. I'd be embarrassed to tell you how many I have. My last one was a Michael Kors purse. :anon:

 

[kntrygrl256]

1.   I have one credit card that I use and it's Care Credit so I think the money I pay is worth it because I use it strictly for my cats

2.   I don't purchase anything from any "Deal" websites.

3.   I will usually order appetizers as my meal. If I'm ordering an entre' I won't order appetizers.

4.   I don't use ATM's to get cash. I can get free from most stores if I need cash back.

5.   I use to be bad for overdraft fees at times. I have some items that are automatically deducted and I have forgotten to write them down.

6.   The few times I do purchase something online, I can wait the time for them to ship it to me at a lesser charge

7.   I made most of my daughters clothes when they were babies. We still don't buy designer clothes.

8.   I don't go to gyms, they are money pits. I exercise enough at home doing all the activities I do.

9.   We don't have cable, satellite or internet. We are going to get internet soon but anything we want to watch is online so we will to that.

10.  I don't drink those crazy coffees. I have free coffee at work and hardly drink it on the weekends.

 

[di and bob]

I don't do any of those things except pay 100.00/mo. for satellite TV with internet, we don't go out at all or go anywhere longer then overnight, so we have to do SOMETHING!  I brew my own coffee and bring it to work, it tastes better anyway, no appetizers and we order water to drink, those two dollar drinks add up. The thing I spend the most on and wish I could cut back on is CAT FOOD! I spend about 100.00 /month right now on it and mix dry in with wet. I wish I could feed cheaper, but they get so little out of life I want to give them a little joy!

 

[denice]

I do have a Coach purse.  I have had it for almost four years and have pretty much used it exclusively.  I tend to be hard on purses and will go through the cheaper ones pretty quickly.  I think for me anyway it has ended up costing at least the same if not less than the cheaper ones.  The one thing about good leather also it actually looks better as it gets older.  It gets a worn look that I think looks good rather than just worn out.